The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to do the impossible: make a fourth movie in a single Spider-Man series.
In an interview with Variety, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse producer Amy Pascal confirmed several Spider-Man-centric projects are in development. These include a spin-off centered on Hailee Steinfeld’s Spider-Woman (a.k.a. “Spider-Gwen”) and a live-action Miles Morales movie. Pascal did not provide more details on the latter, such as whether it would be an MCU project or stand in its own universe à la Venom and Morbius.
On the Spider-Woman movie, Pascal said it’s arriving “sooner than you expect.”
But a third project Pascal mentioned will turn a lot of heads: a fourth movie in the MCU’s Spider-Man series starring Tom Holland and Zendaya. “Are we going to make another movie? Of course, we are,” the producer said, before adding that the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strike has stalled progress.
“We’re in the process, but the writers' strike, nobody is working during the strike,” Pascal said. “We’re all being supporters and whenever they get themselves together, we’ll get started.”
Despite the many iterations of Spider-Man on the big screen, not a single series has made it to a fourth movie, although the original Spider-Man series starring Tobey Maguire and helmed by Sam Raimi had plans for a fourth, fifth, and sixth movie. Development on Spider-Man 4 went quite far, with several drafts of a script and actors John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway in negotiations to play villains, but the project ultimately stalled out.
In 2012, Sony rebooted the franchise with Andrew Garfield. The era lasted just two movies before the lukewarm box office of both films compelled Sony to work with Marvel Studios on a second reboot, now with Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Tom Holland era of Spidey has spawned three movies in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), plus appearances in ensemble movies.
With the Holland series set to continue and the animated Spider-Verse series two movies deep, the superhero has finally found some cinematic stability. Holland could be the first actor to get the superhero into a fourth movie, but when it begins production depends on the outcome of the WGA strike, which is not expected to end soon.
It sounds like Spider-Man will eventually break free of his curse and have a fourth movie with the same actor, but don’t start circling dates on your calendar just yet. Until Hollywood studios properly pay its writers, Spider-Man fans will have to settle for the 14 other Spider-Man movies out there.
